SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1884. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



We publish this week a chart of the circum- 

 polar regions, showing the thirteen northern 

 stations selected by the international commis- 

 sion for simultaneous observation in magnetic 

 and meteorological phenomena, together with 

 a brief statement of the work done at each. 

 That fifteen arctic expeditions, comprising not 

 less than two hundred men in all, should be 

 sent out and return without loss of life attribu- 

 table to the peculiar climate or conditions of 

 the arctic regions, except in the one case where 

 succor had not been provided as directed and 

 expected, offers a suggestive lesson to those 

 who. without examining the subject, are in- 

 veighing against the dangers of arctic research. 



As the outcome of sexual selection, blue 

 eyes are to disappear, at least from Europe. 

 So predicts Mr. Alphonse cle Candolle, in his 

 paper on heredity in the color of the eyes 

 in the human species, recently published in the 

 Archives des sciences. In investigating the 

 subject of heredity, it occurred to De Candolle 

 that the color of the iris offered the best out- 

 ward and visible sign. It is conspicuous ; it 

 cannot be masked by artifice ; after early child- 

 hood it does not vary with age, as does the 

 color of the hair ; and the character is, on the 

 whole, distinct. For, according to him, there 

 are only two sorts, — black, or rather brown 

 eyes, and blue ; gra}- eyes being reckoned as 

 mere varieties of the blue. From the work- 

 ing-up of the statistics, in part from series 

 of observations made for the purpose, it ap- 

 pears, that, when both parents have eyes of 

 the same color, 88.4 % of the children follow 

 their parents in this feature ; and, of the 

 11.6 c / of children born with eyes of other than 

 the parental color, a part must be attributed 

 to atavism, that is, to intermittent heredity. 



No. 89. — 1884. 



But the curious fact comes out, that more 

 females than males have black or brown eyes, 

 in the proportion, say, of 49 to 45 or of 41 to 39. 

 Next it appears, that, with different-colored 

 eyes in the two parents, 53.9 % of the progeny 

 followed the fathers in being dark-eyed, and 

 55.9% followed their mothers in being dark- 

 eyed. An increase of 5 % of dark-eyed in 

 each generation of discolorous unions must 

 tell heavily in the course of time. It would 

 seem, that, unless specially bred by concolor- 

 ous marriages, blue-eyed belles will be scarce 

 in the millennium. 



Apropos of the Bernhard Maimon collec- 

 tion of oriental antiquities, and of the Wolfe 

 expedition to Chaldaea, it is instructive to 

 note the growth of interest in Semitic stud} T in 

 America. The Semitic summer schools, under 

 the inspiration of Dr. Harper and his co-labor- 

 ers, attract from a hundred to a hundred and 

 fifty students each year, chiefly, of course, for 

 the study of Hebrew. The fact that Hebrew 

 has been studied almost exclusively by candi- 

 dates for the ministry has caused the language 

 to be regarded as having only theological sig- 

 nificance, and has obscured its scientific value. 

 In some American institutions a change has 

 taken place. At Harvard and at Johns Hop- 

 kins universities the chief interest in Semitic 

 studies is intended to be a scientific interest. 

 It is still true that most students who elect 

 Hebrew expect to become ministers, but this 

 is not the case with the kindred languages. 



The remarks made in the Electrical confer- 

 ence at Philadelphia by Mr. Preece, the super- 

 intendent of the British postal telegraph and 

 telephone system, upon storage-batteries, were 

 especially interesting, both from his account 

 of his successful use of the original Plante 

 form in lighting his own residence, and from 

 the refreshing frankness of his introductory 

 remarks, in which he stated that there had 



